So I forgot one thing at the store today, and I'll regret not having it all week. So it goes. But I also managed to get some pretty good bargains, which makes me feel better about my forgetfulness. The things I did get I got cheap, which will make them taste better (except the paper towels which I will not eat.) But I do wish I'd remembered the flavored sparkling water that was on sale at half price and which would have been very nice to have on the hot days upcoming. Mandarin orange. Mmmm.

This is just about the middle of official summer, so maybe it will start getting a bit milder soon. The days are already noticeably shorter. This evening I watched the sky, it was still holding some light from the vanished sun as the waxing crescent moon emerged. There were some puffs of cloud here and there, slowly blending with the night. That sky is gone now, a different sky replacing it, the moon sunk into the pines, the clouds vanished, the stars brightened. The chirps of the crickets remain like those of any other night. All these clocks, and time remains unchecked.

Sunday Verse

When Spring Returns

by Fernando Pessoa

When Spring returnsPerhaps I will no longer be in the world.Today I wish I could think of Spring as a personSo that I could imagine her crying for meWhen she sees that she's lost her only friend.But Spring isn't even a thing:It's a manner of speaking.Not even the flowers or green leaves return.There are new flowers, new green leaves.There are new balmy days.Nothing returns, nothing repeats, because everything is real.

A regional water company, Alhambra, used to have seltzer in half gallon bottles that were available in the local supermarkets. They were big plastic bottles with a plastic siphon mechanism that made a noise like a goose with a bad cold honking loudly. I used to make my own soft drinks with it, but they stopped selling it a couple of years after we moved here. I've missed it ever since. Regular seltzer is much too expensive, which is why I now settle for the sparkling water. It is very nice on a hot day.

When I first found the sick goose seltzer the first thing to cross my mind was Nick and Nora preparing drinks for guests and finding their suave, sophisticated seltzer bottle replaced by one of these clunky monstrosities. I found the image hilarious.